It was the start of another beautiful day in Ponyville as the sun began to raise and bath it in light. One of the first places the light hit was the cloud home of Rainbow Dash and Soarin Skies. The pair were currently laying asleep in their room, snoring as they leaned against one another. As the couple did this, the light of the sun creaked in through the window and hit their faces.
Rainbow was the first to respond to this, her face flinching before her eyes slowly opened. She turned over and saw her husband, a smile appearing on her lips when she thought that word. She then rolled over to get the sun out of her face, soon stretching as she knew she wanted to just go back to sleep, but also knew it was another busy day.
A minute or so later, she fully got up, Soarin yawning as he started to wake up as well. She headed into her bathroom and used the magical taps that brought fresh water into the house from a nearby pipeline, the prism haired pony splashing her face with it before brushing her teeth. Soarin joined her and the pair stood in comfortable silence as they did their daily clean up.
That is, till Soarin spoke up, "Today's the day. Spitfire give any hints about what we're supposed to be up to today?"
"Nope," Rainbow instantly responded. Spitfire had brought the pair into her office the previous week and told them of a special event that was taking place today. However, she refused to tell them anything about what this special event was. The pair were going in blind, making Rainbow suspect it was something that they would probably would have tried to find a way out of if they knew. But Rainbow was too curious, so the pair would be spending their day at Wonderbolts HQ doing whatever this event was meant to be.
Teeth brushed, the pair headed downstairs for breakfast, feeding Tank as they did so, then flew out of their home to fly toward HQ. Rainbow was kind of hoping that maybe the map would call for her, or maybe there was a dangerous evil that had escaped imprisonment hoping to destroy Equestria, but no, nothing like that happened.
Not long after that, the pair landed on the cloud base while spotting Spitfire on the runway. "Crash," she smirked, "Clipper. Good to see you're on time. Are you both ready for today's special event?"
"Are you ready to tell us what the heck it is?" Soarin asked as Spitfire laughed and gestured for them to follow. They headed into one of the large hangers, where the team practiced indoor stunts for the rare occasion they had to entertain somewhere enclosed. As they approached, they heard a lot of sounds coming from within, mainly screams, yells and a few smashing sounds.
"What's happening?" Rainbow asked as they reached the door and heard the sound of something being thrown into a wall. "Sounds like an army's doing battle in there! What, has the HQ been invaded? Who we dealing with? Rogue griffons? Sky pirates? Parasprite infestation?"
"Be warned," Spitfire replied, "This might be the toughest challenge you've ever faced. Greater than Discord, Sombra and Tirek combined." The pair smirked before Rainbow slammed her way through the doors and into the hanger, doing several karate strikes in the air.
"Get ready to feel the thunder!" But as she yelled this, she quickly came to a stop when she saw what her enemy was: A bunch of colt and fillies. "Huh?"
The kids all turned to her, Soarin going wide-eyed at the sight, "Spitfire...please tell me this isn't what I think it is."
Spitfire grinned at this, "That depends. Do you think this is a special event where young ponies get to hang out and train with two Wonderbolts?"
Rainbow and Soarin's eyes shrunk at this, all turning to see eight young ponies that were now staring at them while their parents were off to the side.
"How long has this been a thing?" Soarin whispered, only for Spitfire to hold something up that the pair were familiar with. A box of cereal. "Wonder-Ohs?" It was the official Wonderbolt breakfast cereal. One neither he or Rainbow liked, so they never looked for it when shopping. And sure enough, on the box was an advertisement.
Do you want the chance to train alongside the Wonderbolts? Send in the token in this box with your name and address, for the chance to win.
"You can't be serious," Rainbow deadpanned, "You want us to babysit a bunch of brats?"
The brats in question all frowned at Rainbow as Spitfire just smiled back, "Not babysit. Train." She gestured to the eight, "Each generation trains the next. If we can't inspire ponies to follow that path, then the next Wonderbolts will never survive."
"But why us?" Soarin asked.
"Why not you? You're both young, and you've shown that you've got the skills to train others thanks to your time at the School of Friendship." The pair were starting to hate Twilight right now, "Well, I've got paperwork to do. You two have fun!"
She zoomed out of the hanger, the pair glaring back at her. They wanted to yell several profanities at her, but the current company probably shouldn't hear those words. As such, Rainbow and Soarin turned to the eight young ponies, who were staring back at them with curiosity in their eyes. There were five colts and three fillies, the eight quickly looking like they were getting bored of just standing there waiting.
"Ooookay," Rainbow called upon her teaching experience, "Let's...give us a second." She grabbed Soarin and pulled him over to a hanger corner, "What the heck do we do?!"
"You're asking me?! You're the one who teaches at a school!"
"Yeah, but most of my students are adults and those that aren't at still way older than this!" She looked back at the ponies and saw that they were younger taen Scootaloo, and then younger than she was when she entered her first race. She would actually be surprised if they could all fly at this point. "I've never had to deal with kids this young."
Soarin sighed and walked over to the young ponies. "Alright, everypony in line." They did so and he looked them over. "Now, when I point at you, you'll give your name and why you wanted to win this contest." He pointed at a red colt with a black mane and tail, "Go."
"I'm Comet Streak! I wanna learn how to fly like a Wonderbolt and beat everypony I race against!"
Soarin pointed to a dark blue colt with a brown mane and tail. "I'm Skybolt! I wanna fly like you cause it could help me in the future." This kid felt way older than he actually was, Soarin pointing to the yellow filly with an orange mane and tail.
"My name's Fluffy Wings. I just thought it could be fun." Soarin nodded, knowing that was as good a reason as any. He pointed at the purple colt with grey mane and tail.
"I'm Thunder Dance," he replied, "My dad won me the contest and thought it would be a good experience for me." Soarin had expected at least one of them would have been sent there by a parent. He pointed at a green filly with a yellow mane and tail.
"My name is Emerald Rain. I entered cause I never won anything before and hoped I might win this." Soarin nodded and pointed to a white colt with a blue mane and tail.
"I'm Cloud Smasher! I love the Wonderbolts and I wanna be just like you!" Soarin smirked and pointed to a cyan filly whose hair was a mix of red and yellow, which swirled into a ponytail she was stroking.
"Sunbeam. My name's Crescent Sunbeam. I like flying and my parents said the Wonderbolts are the best fliers in Equestria." Soarin replied that they were better than the best, then pointed at a black colt with a purple mane and tail.
"I'm Astral Mooncutter. I wanna be a guard when I grow up, and knowing how to fly will really help."
"Alright," Soarin replied while nodding, "Comet, Skybolt, Fluffy, Thunder, Emerald, Cloud, Sunbeam and Astral. Welcome to the Wonderbolts training day. I'm sure you're all excited about today and what you'll learn, so me and Rainbow are gonna try our hardest to teach you want it means to be a Wonderbolt. Does that sound fun?"
"YEAH!" They all cheered as Rainbow trotted up next to him. "So, what are we gonna learn first?" Comet yelled. "Loops? Spins? Flying in sync?"
"Well, first we need to gauge how fit you all are," Soarin replied, "So..." He turned to the parents at this, "Would you all mind helping with this first test?" The parents nodded and Soarin began to explain what they would do while Rainbow went into the equipment bag Spitfire had left them and found a stopwatch.
The test would be simple. Each young pony would fly to the far end of the hanger and back again, with their parents counting every time they returned. Rainbow would time them and see how many times they could do this in ten minutes. This would be a good way to measure their speed and stamina.
"Alright!" Comet cheered as he jumped around, "Just watch me! I'm gonna crush this!"
"Ready?" Soarin asked, the eight nodding as Rainbow placed a whistle to her lips and held the stopwatch. She blew the second she hit the button, starting the time with the eight quickly flying off. Comet exploded off the mark, getting across the hanger with some impressive speed. He was there and back to his mother before the next closest kid was even halfway to the other end of the hanger.
"Fast," Rainbow commented. "Not bad."
"But can he keep it up?" Soarin responded as Comet attempted to whizz back to the other wall and back again. This time, he was a little bit slower, but still pretty fast. However, his third attempt had him moving at about the same pace as the others were going. He panted as he flew back to his mom, getting slower and slower by the second.
"Looks like he's out of gas," Rainbow giggled as Soarin nodded, Comet now the slowest of the group while the others had been keeping at a relatively steady pace. Soon enough, Skybolt's number got higher than Comet's, the colt growling at the sight. He tried to force himself to go faster, but his body refused to pick up the pace, exhausting himself even more.
Soon, the ten-minute time limit ended, and the eight ponies fell to the ground in exhaustion. Soarin took out a clipboard and took the number from each parent, thankful none of them trying to make their kids look better by increasing the number.
"Well, you all did pretty well. Congrats to Skybolt for having the highest score." They all clapped as Comet turned to glare at the blue pony. "But what did you all learn from that?"
None responded, either not knowing the answer or not wanting to give it out of shyness. This was when Rainbow chose this moment to speak up. "You all saw what Comet did wrong." This statement made Comet glare at her, Soarin flinching at Rainbow's tactlessness.
"He didn't do anything wrong. He just used a strategy that's not suited for this kind of event." Comet turned his glare at Soarin as he continued, "While it's true that Wonderbolts need to be fast, it's more important that we don't push ourselves too far from the start. Wonderbolts routines go on for a long time, so the most important thing to learn is how to use your energy sparingly."
"What's sparingly mean?" Emerald asked, Soarin blinking at her before turning to Rainbow, only for the mare to shrug.
Soarin put his hoof to his chin before saying, "Who likes to put ketchup on their hayfries?" All eight kids raised a hoof while Rainbow went wide-eyed, "Alright. Well, isn't it better to put the same amount of ketchup on each fry?" They nodded again. "That's what it means to use something sparingly. You wouldn't waste all your ketchup to only cover one fry, just like you shouldn't use all your energy in one go."
"Ohhhh..." the young ponies all responded.
Soarin nodded, "What Comet did would have been fine if I told you to only do one lap. As a Wonderbolt, there'll be times when you need to use all your energy in one go. But there'll also be times when you need to be careful with how far you push yourself. You kids understand?" They all nodded, with even Comet looking like he understood. "Alright. Well, from what I saw, you're all fairly fit and active. Now, why don't we head outside and start practicing some tricks?"
"YEAH!" The kids quickly ran out of the room while Soarin turned to his wife, seeing the frown on her face.
"You okay?"
"You made that look so easy," Rainbow sighed, "And I almost made one of them cry."
"Yeah...telling them they made a mistake isn't a smart move." Rainbow glanced away at this as they picked up the equipment and headed out the door. "So you made one mistake. So what?"
"I'm just not good with kids. I can handle older ones, no problem. But really little ones...no thanks." They headed out as the kids leapt into the air, "They're way to chaotic."
"What, is the great Rainbow Dash scared?" Rainbow glared at him, Soarin flinching, "I'm just kidding. But you can't let this one little set back stop you. You're gonna have to learn to deal with really little kids eventually. One day we'll have them around us all the time."
"Yeah, not likely." Soarin stopped at this and stared at her, Rainbow looking back and seeing him have a worried expression on her face.
"Are you saying...you don't want kids?" Rainbow frowned as she looked down, clearly worried she was about to say something that would upset him. "I...I thought you wanted kids."
"I do," Rainbow told him. "I want kids...but not babies or little kids. Somepony Scootaloo or Soul's age. Somepony I can have fun with, playing games and teaching how to fly. I just wish I didn't have to get stuck with a whinny, smelly baby that can't even wipe its own nose."
"Well unfortunately, that's kind of something you need to go through before you can have the kid that you get to have fun with."
Rainbow groaned at this, "I know that. I just don't see what's so great about having to spend all your time with something that can't even pick its head up. And honestly, they seem like way more work than they're worth. I mean, I remember when Pinkie told me about her first time looking after the Cake Twins. And then there was the mess Flurry caused at her Crystallizing."
"I doubt something like that will be an issue for us," Soarin replied, "Unless we somehow have an alicorn, I doubt think we'll have to worry about her causing a blizzard." Rainbow kept looking away at this, Soarin adding, "Look, it'll be a while before we're ready to have kids. I know it sounds scary, but we've faced tougher problems."
"I guess." They looked up and saw the kids already trying to do tricks.
Soarin used his whistle, the kids soon flying down. "Alright everypony, let's start practicing our first trick." They all cheered as Soarin turned to Rainbow, "Wanna show them the trick."
Rainbow nodded, taking to the air as Soarin began to explain the trick. It was actually quite a simple move, where the ponies were to take off and fly above the base into a small amount of clouds above them. Rainbow showed them how to dive through a cloud, dragging the end of one between her back hooves and stretching it out. She then flew around in several directions, creating a shape in the air that looked like a letter A.
The young ponies took off and her flew into clouds, diving back down and dragging the clouds around with them. They tried to write the letter, but each one messed up in some way. Comet lost the grip on his cloud, Skybolt turned in the wrong direction, Fluffy hadn't grabbed enough cloud and so on. The Wonderbolts watched as they all tried again, with roughly the same results, so Soain headed up to them as Rainbow just hovered there.
"Excuse me?" He turned to see Astrel looking up at her, "What am I doing wrong?" Rainbow opened her mouth to respond, only to stop as she remembered this one did do a bit better than the others, as he was able to get the shape down, but didn't get it fully right due to how slow they were going.
"You've gotta speed up," she responded.
"Why?"
"Um..." She put a hoof to her chin, "Clouds uh...they don't last long when they're stretched out. That's why you've gotta be quick to complete the shape before it fades away. So try and go faster."
"But if I go fast, I might lose control."
"Then you practice your control," Rainbow replied, "Go on. Try and do it just a bit faster and see how well you do." Astral nodded and flew back up into the cloud. He then shot back down as fast as he could go, pulling some cloud behind him before he started trying to make the letter.
It seemed to go well until he tried to turn to go back up the stream he made in order to complete the letter. HIs cursive was actually pretty good, but his control was quickly shown to be less then desired when he turned and suddenly span out of control. "GYAH!" He cried, spinning out.
Rainbow gasped and flew down after him, flying as fast as she could hoping to catch him before he hit the HQ ground. However, Astral's mother shot up from the ground and caught him with speed Rainbow doubted she could ever pull off. Astral slammed into her and they were both thrown into the ground, though not as fast as Astral had been going before.
Evverypony gasped as they all flew down, Rainbow being the first one to reach them. "Are you alright?" She saw the mare holding her son and slowly sitting up as the little pony began to cry.
"It's okay," she whispered, "It's okay. Momma's here." Rainbow saw that the mare had several scratches on her back and her wing looked like it might be sprained, but she looked like she hadn't even noticed. "I know, that was scary wasn't it. But it's okay."
Astral then calmed down and sniffed, his mother hugging him tighter to completely stop his tears. Soarin saw her injuries and flinched, "Let's get you both to the medical bay to be checked out." The mother nodded and Rainbow offered to take them, mostly wanting to get away from the little ones before she caused another accident.
They made their way across the base, with the mother unable to fly and forcing them to walk. Her name was Moonlight Aurora and she was a black pony like her son, but had a white mane and tail with streaks of yellow running through it. Astral was riding on her back, despite the many scratches that were covering it. The mare didn't even seem phased.
"I'm really sorry," Rainbow told Moonlight.
"Sorry for what?"
"You only got hurt because of me. I was the one who made your son lose control."
"I doubt it. Did you do something that caused him to go spinning?"
"I told him to speed up."
"That's what you were supposed to do. This wouldn't be a very good Wonderbolts Training Day if the kids weren't expected to go fast. Though maybe you shouldn't have had him go so fast right from the start."
Rainbow sighed at this, "I knew this was a bad idea."
"Training young ponies to be better fliers?"
"Me training young ponies to be better fliers. I can handle training grown ponies. I could even handle ponies ages ten and up. But really little kids...I can't do it."
They arrived at the medical bay and the doctor quickly let them in. Rainbow waited outside, wanting to make sure the pair were okay, and also wanting to keep as far away from the training as possible. It was a good twenty minutes before the doors of the medical bay opened up again, Moonlight and Astral stepping out. Moonlight had her wing wrapped up in bandages and a few band-aids on her back while Astral looked completely the same and was enjoying a lollipop. "Well?" Rainbow asked, Moonlight smiling at her.
"We're completely fine. I'll need to hold off on flying for a day or two, but the pair of us should be absolutely fine." Rainbow sighed in relief. "Thank you for waiting for us."
"Well, I couldn't just leave a pair of civilians unescorted on the base. Besides," she looked sheepish, "It keeps me from having to return to the training for longer."
Moonlight sighed as she carried Astral back in the direction they came. "You really shouldn't let yourself be upset. Stuff like this happens to kids. If we wrapped them up in cotton their whole lives, they'll never be able to grow into ponies that can look after themselves when they're older."
"I guess. But not everypony can be a super-mom like you. When Astral fell, you were like lightning flying up to catch him. You let yourself get hurt to keep him safe."
"I'm sure any mother would do the same," Moonlight replied, "That's who we are. We protect our young."
"Maybe you do," Rainbow muttered, "Honestly, the thought of somepony being completely reliant on me is...it's terrifying." Moonlight raised an eyebrow at this, "I mean, one mistake and I could ruin the kid."
"Oh please. I've made plenty of mistakes. When Astral was first born, my husband and I went to visit his parents and placed the baby in a bedroom to sleep. It wasn't until we were halfway home that we remembered we had left him there." Rainbow laughed at this, "There's no such thing as a perfect parent. Ask anypony you know with kids and they'll tell you they've screwed up at least once."
Rainbow tried to think about the parents she knew. The Cakes seemed like the perfect parents, though she hadn't been around them enough to confirm if they had made a mistake or not. Shining and Cadance's child had almost buried an entire city in a blizzard, but her being an alicorn was more the cause then their parenting. And then there were Flash and Scootaloo's parents, who had left their children at orphanages because of a vision their mother had had.
"I guess you have a point. But still, maybe I'm not the kind of pony that's meant to be responsible with a kid. I'm just not mom material." Moonlight laughed at this, "What's so funny?"
"I thought the exact same thing when I learned I was pregnant," she responded, "I wasn't exactly the kind of pony you'd expect to be responsible for another pony."
"Really?" After seeing how awesome she had been before, it was hard for her to not see her as anything but.
"It's true. Before Astral was born, I wasn't exactly an upstanding citizen. Neither was my husband. We were what you would call hoodlums. We ran around, getting into trouble. I even had a criminal record, not that I'm proud of it." Rainbow went wide-eyed at this, "But that all changed when I got pregnant. I thought I was gonna be the worst mother that ever lived. Even considered putting him up for adoption."
Rainbow glanced down at Astral, who was too focused watching the ponies in the air to pay attention to what the grown-ups were saying.
"But as the months went by and he grew within me, I slowly fell in love with him and I knew I couldn't give him up. So, I changed who I was and so did his father. We stopped being menaces to society and got proper jobs, quickly building up a home our child could grow up in that was safe and secure."
"But you were still worried you were gonna mess up?"
"Big time," Moonlight nodded. "And remember, I did leave him at my in-laws when he was a baby." Rainbow snickered at this. "I know it sounds like it's an impossible task, but parenthood is one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. I thought I loved my life before, but I didn't know how little I'd lived until I had a child to live it with." They arrived back at the training grounds, "And it's not like you'll have to do it all on your own."
Rainbow looked up at Soarin and watched him as he was directing the kids on how to do certain maneuvers without losing control like Astral had. She smiled, realizing Moonlight was right. Soarin was clearly great with kids. If she had him, she was sure she could pull this whole parenting thing off...right?
Soarin saw Astral fly back up and smirked, "Alright everypony, now that we're an octuple again, we'll start working on synchro flight. This is tricky, since it requires you to move in perfect time with your partner. So, we're gonna start with you on the ground and then move on to aerial displays later."
They all flew down and Soarin paired them up. Comet was with Skybolt, Fluffy with Thunder, Emerald with Cloud and Sunbeam would be with Astral. Rainbow stepped up next to Soarin as he explained the routine. "First, you lift the front leg closest to your partner and cross it!" The pair lifted their legs and formed an X with them, "Then lower it back down and as soon as it hits the ground, lift your other leg up and full semi-circle until they're pointing straight up." They lowered their legs and did as Soarin explained until they were pointing straight up. "Then, you bring them down from the front and stomp on the ground." They slowly lowered their legs down passed their heads and touched the ground.
"That's easy," Comet chuckled, only to see Soarin smirk.
"It's easy to do slowly." He and Rainbow suddenly repeated the process at high speed, able to move perfectly in sync with one another and stomping the ground at the same time. "You'll find doing it quick is a lot harder. But if you think you can do it, try."
Comet laughed and pulled Skybolt forward, the pair standing side by side before the red colt started the movements. But Skybolt had been taken by surprise and was a second behind, and when the movement ended, Comet hit the ground before Skybolt.
"Come on!" He cried to the blue colt, "What were you waiting for?"
"You didn't give me a signal," Skybolt argued. Comet looked like he was about to yell at him, but Rainbow spoke up first.
"Hey!" They turned to her, "No arguing. That's the last thing you need for flying in sync." The pair frowned as Rainbow took a deep breath. "Just try again. This time, I'll give a signal." She turned to the others, "You all wanna try it to?" They nodded and stood in position, side by side as Rainbow stared at them all. "And...go!" The colts and fillies began the movements, with some doing better and being in sync then others.
Some were going too fast or too slow, while others accidently kicked their partners in the leg instead of crossing them.
"Ow!" Emerald yelped as she pulled her leg away from Cloud.
"Sorry," he flinched, Emerald looking like she was about to start crying, making Rainbow flinch, only for Emerald's mother to run over to her.
"Oh, don't be such a baby." Emerald pouted at this as the mare rubbed the spot that he had kicked. "See, it's not bleeding. Are you a big girl?"
"Yes," Emerald nodded.
"Well, big girls don't cry for little bumps. He's sorry, so be strong for me and don't get upset at him over an accident." Emerald nodded and actually stopped crying, making her mother smile.
"Wow..." Rainbow whispered as the pair stepped away from the two. "That was awesome. I thought talking like that to a kid was a bad thing."
"It's all about understanding the situation," the mare replied. She was a brown pegasus with a peach mane and tail, her name being Star Dawn. "If she had actually been bleeding, I would have comforted her. But if I did for a little bump like that, she'll grow up thinking every time bump and bruise is a death sentence. There are times when a parent needs to be caring, but also a time when a parent needs to be stern and show their children the world can't be allowed to walk over you."
"Cool," Rainbow chuckled, "I always thought being a mom meant being all mushy."
"I'd say it's about eighty five percent being mushy and the other fifteen percent is being stern when you need to be."
Rainbow sighed, "That's still too mushy for me." Star looked at her for a moment and hummed.
"You don't know whether you want to have kids, do you?" Rainbow slowly nodded. "I see. Then maybe you shouldn't." Rainbow flinched at this, only for the mare to add, "It's nothing personal, but trust me, being a parent isn't easy."
"Don't you love your kid?"
"Yes. I love her and her little brother. You should have seen Emerald the other day when I put these little bows in her mane and tail." She remembered the image and looked like she was remembering a sweet dream, only to then turn serious. "But they are a ton of work." Rainbow gulped. "If you are not totally, one hundred percent sure you want them, you won't survive."
"Is it really that hard?"
"Yes," Star nodded. "I never get any sleep. I'm always sick. I never get the chance to read my favorite stories. I still haven't finished the latest Daring Do book, but I can recite over six different story books from memory." Rainbow gulped, fearing she would never get to read another Daring Do book.
"I don't wanna read kids books," Rainbow muttered, "I wanna read books for adults. Adults and teens!"
"And they can be so manipulative," Star contined, "Last week, Emerald's brother pretended to be hurt. I went in to help him, so she could sneak into the kitchen and steal two cookies."
"Oh, wow. Your children are monsters!"
"Hey!" Star yelled, "Those are my kids. Back off."
"Right..." Rainbow gulped.
Star sighed as she looked Rainbow over, "And then there's the process of actually getting kids." She gestured to Rainbow's flat stomach, "You'd risk giving up that bod forever."
"WHAT?!" Rainbow screamed, getting the attention of many others which made her give a nervous laugh until they turned away. "What do you mean? I mean...I know I'd gain a few pounds but...couldn't I work it off?"
"It's more than just a few pounds," Star sighed, "And working it off isn't as easy as you think. To lose weight, you need to exercise. How often do you think you'll have to exercise while looking after a newborn? They require constant attention and by the time they don't need you to do something for them, you'll be so exhausted you won't be able to find the strength to do a simple sit up." She gestured to herself, Rainbow noticing her stomach was a little round. "I used to be about the same weight as you. But after two kids..."
Rainbow hadn't thought about what she would have to go through to have a baby. Months of being overweight, not being allowed to eat certain things, having weird cravings and eventually needing to squeeze the thing out of her in a very painful manner.
"I'm not telling you to not have kids," Star replied, "Having kids can be an amazing and fulfilling experience. But it also means giving things up. Are you willing to do that? If you can't and you still have kids, you could end up not liking them or even hating them for ruining your life. That's not fair on you or the child."
Rainbow knew she had a point. She didn't want to have a kid, only to end up hating it in the end. She tried to tell herself she wouldn't, but did she know that for sure?
"Alright," she heard Soarin call out, "Looks like you've all got the hang of it." They turned back to the group, "Now why don't we add a few more moves to it?" The kids all nodded as Soarin turned to Rainbow, who quickly pushed what she was thinking down so she could focus on the moves.
She and Soarin stood in position and began to perform the movements the kids had all learned with Soarin then explaining what to do after stomping on the ground. The pair quickly did the whole routine together and the kids were amazed by it, the group trying hard to do it as well. As they did this, Rainbow watched, thinking about that pain and discomfort, then to give birth to something that would be completely dependent on her for everything. She would be giving up her own life to look after the life of another. She might have to quit the Wonderbolts or be stuck doing duties a mare with a kid would be able to handle. She had worked so hard to become a Wonderbolt and didn't want to give that up.
Soarin had been focusing on the kids, only to turn to Rainbow, seeing the upset look on her face. He would need to talk to her, but he also needed to focus on his job. Luckily, he saw the time and realized what he could do.
"Alright gang," he clapped his hooves, "I think that's enough for right now. You've all gotten the hang of being in sync on the ground." He wasn't wrong since the eight had all gotten the movements down pat. "Let's break for lunch, and once you're refueled, we can start working on doing it in the air. How's that sound?"
The kids all cheered at this and their parents grabbed them, each having brought something to eat and ran out onto the Wonderbolts lawn. As this happened, Soarin flew over to Rainbow. "You okay?" She turned to him with a huge frown.
"Can we talk?" She glanced back at the others, "Alone?" Soarin nodded and the pair stepped away from the ponies, heading around the hanger and sitting on a large crate at its rear.
"So, what's up?" Soarin asked, "You've been acting weird for a while now."
Rainbow sighed as she glanced away, "I uh...I've decided something. Something that might make you hate me and I'm worried about how you'll react."
"Rainbow," Soarin sighed, "I'd never hate you. What's wrong?"
"I...I don't wanna have kids." Soarin's eyes went wide, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to ever have them."
"But why?"
"Because it's not who I am," Rainbow slowly said, "I'm Rainbow Dash, awesome Wonderbolt and heroic savior of Equestria. Not Rainbow Dash, housewife and stay at home mom who spends her days changing diapers and having a baby scream into her ear." Soarin frowned, since that did not sound like Rainbow either. "I know you want kids, but I don't think I could go through that. It's my body and I don't want to have to suffer through it for something I might end up resenting."
"I guess that makes sense," Soarin leaned back at this, "You're right. It's your body, and I have no right to force you to do something you'll hate."
"I'm sorry," Rainbow muttered out, "You hate me now, don't you?" Soarin then reached down and lifted her head to look at him.
"No way, Crash. It'll take more than this to stop me from loving you." Rainbow teared up at this, "And it's not like this completely stops us from ever being parents. There are other ways to have kids. We could adopt."
"Adopt?"
"Yeah. You said you're not good with babies and kids, so we'll look for a child that's old enough to look after itself but still wants parents. We'll adopt them and be parents whilst skipping all the stuff you don't wanna do."
"Yeah...I guess that's an option. Though I don't think I'll be ready for any of that for a good while."
"That's fine," Soarin chuckled, "You take all the time you need. There's no rush." Rainbow smiled and leaned forward to hug him, Soarin hugging her back. They stayed like that for a minute or so before Rainbow got up and started walking off. Soarin smiled as she went around the hanger. But as soon as she was out of sight, he sighed and leaned back against the building. "I'm...I'm okay with this."
"Hey Clips," he turned to see Spitfire and Fleetfoot walking up, "You okay?" Spitfire asked, "You and Crash seemed to be having a pretty intense discussion."
"Yeah," Soarin sighed, "We just...had to iron a few things out."
"About the training camp?" Fleetfoot asked, the stallion shaking his head. "Then what's it about?"
Soarin grimaced at this, but knew he probably needed to tell someone. The pair sat down beside him and listened as he told them about Rainbow's decision. To say the pair were surprised by the end of this tale was an understatement, but not for the reasons Soarin had suspected. "You got married without talking about whether or not you wanted kids?" Spitfire asked.
"Yeah," Soarin nodded.
"Dude," Fleetfoot shook her head, "That's like...the first thing you should have discussed once she said yes. Do you want kids, where do you want to live, should we get a prenup. Did you two just jump into the wedding without giving any thought to your futures together?"
"I...I guess we didn't," Soarin sighed. "At least I know now."
"Too little, too late." Spitfire crossed her hooves, "So Crash doesn't want kids. Honestly, I get where she's coming from. Having to give up my position to push one of them out, only to have it constantly screaming in my ear. No thanks."
Soarin sighed, "I told Rainbow that maybe we could adopt. And I'm all for that. But...I'd still like to have a kid that's actually my own. And since it'd be part me and part Rainbow Dash, you know it'd grow up to be awesome."
"Well," Spitfire chuckled, "The Rainbow part would be awesome. Though any kid with your genes might have their awesomeness weakened a little bit." Soarin shot her a glare, Fleetfoot laughing while Spitfire smirked at him.
"Forget it. You two wouldn't understand." He jumped off the crate at this.
"Soarin, wait." He glanced back, seeing the frowns on their faces, "We do understand. And if you really want your own kid, you need to tell Rainbow about this."
"What would be the point?" He asked, "She's made it pretty clear she doesn't want kids. If I told her I wanted kids, she'd either force herself to go through with it and end up hating me for making her or feel bad about never giving me a kid. Either way, our relationship will be ruined."
"You can't keep this from her," Fleetfoot replied, "Secrets between married couples never end well."
Soarin groaned and shook his head, "I...I know."
But before he could fully respond, one of the mothers walked past them. "Comet?" She called out, making the Wonderbolts turn to her, "Comet, where are you?"
"Is there a problem?" Spitfire asked, making the mother glance back. She was red, just like her son, with a mane and tail that was brownish orange in color.
"My son, I can't find him anywhere!" This made them flinch.
"How could you lose him?" Fleetfoot cried, the mother frowning.
"I just looked away from him for a second and he was gone. Probably saw something interesting and wondered off without thinking of where he was going."
The Wonderbolts shared a glance, Spitfire pointing at Fleetfoot, "You go check the training field. Clipper, you go search the locker rooms. I'll head over to the main building and make an announcement to try and get him to come to us." They nodded and all flew off, leaving his mother looking absolutely terrified she might never see her child again.
Rainbow had gone off to the showers to cool off, still feeling a little upset about what had happened. Even though Soarin had told her everything was alright, she could tell he was upset. She felt bad for stopping Soarin from ever having a kid, but hopefully the adoption idea would be enough to make him happy. Even so, Rainbow still felt a gnawing sensation in her chest, as she thought about everything she was deciding against.
She imagined each of her friends in a few years, each with their own foal with their significant other. A life that had been created through their love for one another. A perfect fusion of the two. And then there was her, alone and without a foal to call her own. It would be just like when her friends all had pets and she didn't, only this time they were all hanging out doing playdates without her.
Rainbow shook her head to get rid of the images.
Why was she suddenly thinking about all this? She had made up her mind to not have any kids, so why was she suddenly feeling upset about missing out on stuff she figured she would hate? "Come on!" She told herself, "You don't want to ruin your life with a bunch of foals! So what if your friends are all gonna have their own eventually?! You can still be a part of it! You can be their fun cool aunt Rainbow...when they're old enough to not need diaper changes or throw up on you."
She stepped out of the shower and started toweling herself off, only to hear Spitfire's voice echo through the speaker system. "Attention all staff members, a young pony has been lost on the base. He responds to the name Comet Streak and if found, must be returned to his mother as soon as possible."
Rainbow grimaced at this, walking out of the shower room and headed for Spitfire's office. But as she did this, she heard the sound of crying, making her turn to a nearby dumpster. She walked around it, soon seeing Comet curled up behind it, terror on his face as he cried into his hooves. "Hey," she softly spoke, "You okay kid?" The colt looked up at her, "You know, you've got the whole base on high alert looking for you."
"I'm sorry," he whimpered, "I got lost." His crying grew louder and Rainbow flinched.
"Uh...what happened?" She slowly asked as she leaned down, only for Comet to cry louder. Rainbow was on the verge of telling him to shut it, but took a deep breath.
And as she tried to keep her cool, Comet spoke up. "I saw some Wonderbolts flying above us and doing...cool tricks." He rubbed his face to try and get rid of the tears. "But they flew behind one of the buildings and I wanted to keep watching, so I ran after them."
Rainbow nodded at this, "You followed without looking where you were going and now you can't figure out how to get back to your mom?" He nodded back, only to start crying some more. Rainbow sat down beside him and placed a hoof on his head. "Hey, it's alright. I can take you back to your mom and we can forget this whole thing happened."
"NO!" Comet screamed, leaping away from her. "Momma's gonna be mad and take me home! I'm not gonna get to fly like a Wonderbolt and everypony's gonna make fun of me!"
Rainbow flinched at this, about to say he wouldn't be in trouble, but realized a little kid's mind usually jumped to the worst case scenario. "Just try and calm down," she whispered, "I promise you won't get in trouble. It was an accident, and if you apologize, nopony has to get mad." But as she said that, Comet spun around, "Hey, wait!" She leapt into the air and flew after him as he ran for the runway. "WAIT!"
But it was too late.
As he ran onto the runway, a pair of Wonderbolts shot past him at high speed. Comet cried out as a powerful blast of wind picked him up and tossed him into the air, Rainbow gasping at this as she tried to chase after him, only for the colt to crash into the cloud ground with enough force to break a hole through it. Rainbow glanced down into the hole, hoping he had spread his wings and was already flying back up, but the little pegasus only screamed as he fell, too scared to do anything.
The pegasus quickly dived through the cloud, moving as fast as she could to catch up with him. She thought she might have to use her Sonic Rainboom to save him, but she was able to reach him before needing to. "Gotcha!" She pulled him into her embrace and spread her wings, flinching at the intense buffering they received from the air that pumped into them.
And when they came to a stop, she looked down and saw they were about a hundred feet or so from the ground. She sighed in relief before looking down at Comet, who was shaking and crying into her chest. "Hey," she patted him on the head, "It's okay. You're gonna be okay." She began to fly back up to the base, Comet's sobs continuing, though they did weaken. As they did this, Rainbow thought about what the mothers had all told her before. "Hey, you wanna be a Wonderbolt, right?"
Comet looked up at her and nodded, "Uh-huh."
"Well, Wonderbolts are tough. Sure, we can cry, but we don't cry for long. A good thirty seconds is all you need to feel better and once that passes, you need to buck up and not let what's making you cry get to you." They reached the base and flew through the clouds. "Now let's go see your mom. I promise, you won't get in trouble. And since you don't seem to be hurt, we'll keep this little falling incident between us. Okay?"
Comet sniffed and nodded, "Okay."
Rainbow nodded back and they flew to where the families were still hanging out. Soarin and Spitfire were also there, and when they saw Rainbow with the kid, Comet's mother gasped and rushed over to hug her son. "Where were you?" She cried, holding him so tightly that Rainbow was amazed he could breathe.
"I'm sorry," Comet whispered, Rainbow now explaining what happened. She told the mother how Comet got lost, but told her that she promised Comet that he wouldn't get in trouble. His mother wasn't mad, just relieved he was okay.
"Well kids," Soarin chuckled, "This was certainly an interesting distraction. But since Comet's back and okay, why don't we start practicing our air maneuvers?" They all cheered at this, Comet now more excited than anypony, glad he still got to do what he had been looking forward to despite his mistakes.
Soarin took the youngsters to the air and they all started doing the moves in the air, the eight all showing impressive skill at taking their ground dances to the sky. And as they did this, Comet's mother walked over to Rainbow. "Thank you for finding him."
"It was nothing," Rainbow replied, "Didn't even have to look. I just happened to come across him when I was stepping out of the shower."
"No," she shook her head, "I know my son. He would have been so worried about being in trouble, he probably didn't wanna come back. You convinced him to return, didn't you?" Rainbow looked a little sheepish, but nodded. "Thank you. You saved the day for Comet and everypony else. If he hadn't been found, the event might have been cancelled and ruined for everypony. I don't know how you convinced him to come back, but you're clearly a natural with young ponies."
"You think so?" Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow, the mare nodding.
"If you ever have kids of your own, they'll be lucky to have you." Rainbow smiled as the mare walked off to talk to the rest of the parents, the Wonderbolt watching the young ponies playing around in the air.
This went on for another hour or so before Soarin was satisfied with their skills, telling them all they did great. "You're all possible Wonderbolts in the making. As long as you keep up your practice, I'm willing to bet any of you could be attending the Wonderbolts Academy in a few years time." The young ponies all smiled at this, Soarin grinning back, only to see there was still a little while before the end of the event. He needed to think of something for the ponies to do in that time.
That is, till Rainbow flew up to them, "Alright everypony, who's ready to learn the most important lesson of the day?" The ponies all raised their hooves in response.
Rainbow smirked before leading them over to another part of the base, where a large net had been laid out. "What's this for?" Emerald asked as Rainbow grinned.
"One of the most important things about being a pegasus is having the instinct to spread your wings. After all, you all live in a cloud city. You might not have had this happen to you, and I hope you never do, but sometimes the cloudy ground beneath you will break apart and you'll find yourself falling to the ground."
Comet blushed at this as Rainbow flew up to a diving board above the net. She then placed a blindfold on and waited on the edge of the board as Fleetfoot flew up to her. They both stood there for a few seconds, the young ponies wondering what was gonna happen.
But then, Fleetfoot pushed Rainbow off the board and she fell. The young ponies gasped, but Rainbow instantly spread her wings and stopped her fall. "See?" She took off her blindfold and flew down to the ground. "If you train your body to spread your wings without a thought, you'll never have to worry about falling again. Even if you're scared, it'll happen on instinct. Now, who wants to go first?"
The young ponies all stared at this in amazement, looking at the net and then at the diving board above them. Soarin just frowned, turning to Rainbow. "Maybe this isn't such a good-"
"I'll go first!" Comet flew up to the diving board, amazing the other ponies with his courage. Rainbow smirked and flew up with him, putting the blindfold on as they reached the board.
"You ready?" Comet nodded and Rainbow positioned him on the edge of the board, waiting for him to stop wondering when she would push him. And when he was about to ask when she would, she shoved him over. He cried out, but tried to spread his wings. He managed to catch the air, but hit the net before he could slow himself down. The others all gasped at this, but Comet bounced back up and started laughing. This seemed to make the other youngsters want to go, the group flying up and letting Rainbow blindfold and push them over the edge.
Rainbow smiled as she spent the next hour and a half pushing the young ponies off the board. With every fall, they learned to open their wings faster and faster. Eventually, the action was becoming ingrained in their muscle memory, and they spread their wings the second their hooves were no longer on solid ground. Their parents also became less terrified each time they saw their child fall, seeing the experience really was training the young ponies to hone their instincts.
Eventually, the time came for the day's events to end. The young ponies were all upset about not getting to have any more training, each feeling like they hadn't learned enough. "Don't worry," Rainbow told them, "You all keep practicing what you learned here at home, and you'll become even more awesome. Who knows, you might even be more awesome than me one day."
They all cheered at this, only for their parents to tell them it was time to go. Most began to leave without much issue, though Moonlight would need to take a chariot that Spitfire had arranged due to her injury. However, one of them didn't seem to want to leave yet. Comet turned to Rainbow and before his mother could stop him, he rushed over an threw his hooves around her. Rainbow almost flinched at this, but suddenly felt an overwhelming swell in her heart. "Thank you," whispered.
Rainbow smiled and gave him a gentle hug back, "No problem." Comet smiled and flew back over to his mother, the pair flying off as Soarin turned to her with wide eyes.
"For somepony that doesn't like little kids, you sure did well with them."
"I never said I didn't like little kids," Rainbow replied, "And you know what, maybe I was wrong about not wanting to have one of my own someday."
This made Soarin gasp, "R-r-really?"
"Yeah. But don't expect to be called daddy anytime soon. I'm a long way off from actually being ready. I wanna enjoy my hot athletic body for a bit before needing to give it up." Soarin laughed at this and used his wing to pull her in closer.
"You got it. And you never know, Twilight might know a spell that'll let us have a kid without you needing to spend months in that state." Rainbow smirked at that thought, since it was definitely something she could get behind. That is, till an idea formed in her head.
"Yeah...and maybe there's a spell that'll let the stallion be the one who gets pregnant." Soarin's eyes went wide at this, the mare laughing at his face before spreading her wings and leaving him behind as she flew home.
"You know what?!" Soarin called out after her. "Maybe we are still a bit young to think about having kids." He took off and flew after her, "Maybe we can wait...about a decade." Rainbow laughed harder and even Soarin couldn't help but chuckle. Their day with the young ponies had certainly given the couple a lot to think about. Their future was loaded with endless possibilities and whether they decided to have kids or not, they knew they would love their lives in the future together. That, they were absolutely certain about